This photo is taken 1990, it’s in Berlin and the last days of the Wall are being counted. Lots of it was already demolished when I arrived in March and the commerce with pieces of it were especially intense around Checkpoint Charlie. The Wall was covered with graffiti and the pieces for sale were mostly such ones, covered with paint. I didn’t buy one, but thought it was more interesting to photograph what was still there. A milestone in European history.
The photo was captured on film with a Nikon F2 and a Nikkor 35 mm/f2. I scanned the film with a flat bed scanner sometime during the early 2000s. The quality of the scanned image was somewhat degraded due to the used technology, but could be improved a little by some retouch with Photoshop.
6 Comments
Ove, I agree, I would as soon have the photograph and memories. There’s lot of lessons that wall should/could teach mankind but I’m afraid we’re slow learners.
The great thing is that you have the image on film, so you can always re-scan it if you want. I love th sky, and I love the shot. I have to say that living where you do, there are so many historical sites that interest me, although like this one, not necessarily ones with happy memories. My father fought in WWII, and I’ve always thought about re-tracing his route through Europe, just to see what he saw, but 60 years later. I’m not sure what I’d get from it, but the thought is still there.
Earl, evolution of our minds seems to take longer time than the evolution of our features and abilities. In that particular respect, we are still like we were millions of years ago.
Chris, my grand father did too, unfortunately on the wrong side. Maybe they fought each other, that is, if not your father were German too (your last name gives some indices on that). I have been travelling around a bit, and I must say all these places only makes me sad. But that’s the good thing with leaving some remainings from the war, so we never forget about it. You should probably see some of it, to get peace of mind. But there are so many other historical locations to see, that you probably would get out more of. I feel the same about the US, there are so many places I’d like to visit, places that to me are equally interesting, both from a historical and a cultural perspective.
Nice website Ove. I was googling for Digilux and that’s how I ended up here. Saw your picture of Die Mauer, I was there last year with my kids because I wanted to show this piece of European history. Not much is left of the wall, about one mile, that’s it. Checkpoint Charlie is completely gone, a shame really. And Spandau prison is gone, there is a Mediamarkt now. Oh well…
Thanks a lot, Ysbrand! Regarding Berlin, that’s the sign of time, good signs hopefully. Some would perhaps argue that they prefer DDR for Mediamarkt…